The Final Days of Second Chances
by Polyglyph
Summary: They were both afraid, but for different reasons. Hers lay in the fog of an unknown future, his in the records of an undetermined past.
1. Chapter 1

_The clock face washed in blood. The final hours filled with screams. Prayers for help, yet no one came. Pleas for death, always unanswered. The torture continued until his body could bear no more, and the earth followed shortly thereafter, the dirge of manic laughter accompanying it to the grave._

When the notes faded and the world around them returned, they found themselves beside the exterior castle wall. The valley air was dry but cool, infinitely preferable to the scalding winds they had faced only moments ago. The music box house was silent, but the rushing water could still be heard as it poured over the cliff to the river below.

The yellow pixie floated higher as she inspected their surroundings. Unlike the previous three times, their success had not altered the landscape in the slightest. But even so, she could feel the change. The dark magic cast upon Ikana, that which had tainted the very atmosphere with its prevalence, had vanished. The lingering souls had departed. The curse was broken.

She knew that her partner could sense it too. The boy possessed an acute sensitivity to dark auras and wicked intentions, one which rivaled the innate spiritual awareness of fairies. Of course, she hadn't realized this when they met, and the first few times she did notice, she assumed it was a fluke. But whenever she began to feel even the tingle of malice or aggression, he never failed to reach for his sword.

As the weight of their accomplishment sank in, the fairy began to flutter about and laugh. "I can't believe it. We did it!" she exclaimed. She then looked down to her partner below. "You did it. You actually did it."

The boy smiled up at her and nodded. "We did it."

She flew by his side as he approached the fortress. He slid his shield and sword from his person and laid them on the ground. Then he sat propping his back against the wall. The fairy smiled, glad to see he was in no rush after that last battle. But a stray thought quickly damped her mood.

"Hey, you're not hurt, are you?" she asked, flying closer and scrutinizing his garments for tears or blood stains. Whether it was the boy's pride or simply an aversion towards worrying others—she believed it was a little of both—he would never request help in treating his wounds.

"Just tired," he said, and from what she could see, hovering about him, he was telling the truth. She couldn't find more than a couple scratches and bruises.

But "tired" certainly wasn't the right word. The boy was clearly exhausted. She didn't expect anything less after that fight, especially when his last full night of sleep had been two days ago. Still, not seeing any worrisome injuries, her smile returned. "Rest up a bit, kid. We can head back to town when you're ready."

"Thanks, Tatl."

Link closed his eyes, and Tatl gave an approving nod. Without another word, she wandered over to the edge of the canyon wall, then past it, flying high above the river, and overlooked the great expanse to the west. Even from this distance, she could discern the great Clock Tower that stood at Clock Town's center. Far beyond lay the sun, slowly descending towards the ocean and lighting the sky with mellow tones of orange and pink.

The panorama was captivating. In all her years, never had she seen Termina from such an incredible viewpoint. Ikana was still the lonely, barren land it was always rumored to be, but the majestic sight before her offered some compensation. And it had potential to be greater still. The moon was impossible to ignore, and inclement weather shrouded the far-off regions, tarnishing the scene. But maybe some day she could view Termina in all its glory, just as the Ikana citizens must have done ages ago. What a sight that must have been. Tatl vowed to return when Termina's troubles were long past.

Then again, such a time may not be too far away.

Four temples. Four Giants. They had freed Termina's guardian deities, just as Tael had advised. It had taken them nearly two months' time to get this far. Two months within three days that kept repeating and repeating; three days of actions and conversations that were sometimes predictable and sometimes chaotic; three days of rushing and fighting and sometimes accomplishing so little.

Three interminable days.

And now their journey was nearing its end. Tomorrow was the eve of the carnival. That left them a day to rest up and prepare, and then they could finally confront Skull Kid atop the Clock Tower and call forth the Giants. She didn't know what to expect when they did, but surely the four Giants together could do something. Skull Kid had attempted to preempt their interference by imprisoning them; maybe he knew they could stop his plans.

But Tatl couldn't help but worry. What if Skull Kid was too strong, even for the Giants? So long as Link had his ocarina, they could always rewind the clock and start over. But what then? What more could they do? Since day one of these crazy, time-traveling escapades, freeing the Giants had been their only plan. What would they do if the Giants failed?

Now that the end was in sight, Tatl's optimism was waning bit by bit. What if nothing they did made a difference? What if Termina was beyond saving?

Both directly and indirectly, she had witnessed the power of that accursed mask. Skull Kid's foray into magic began with nothing more than a few pranks here and there. No one was ever injured. It was harmless fun.

But then it stopped being so harmless. Simple mischief evolved into malice, and with each use, the mask's power seemed only to strengthen, as if it thrived on pain and misery. The curse placed on Link required immense magical energy, and Tatl now berated herself for not seeing the warning for what it was. Even so, she doubted she could have stopped him at that point. Things escalated so quickly—before she and Link even escaped the catacombs beneath the Clock Tower—and Skull Kid became even more dangerous. Shattering the Great Fairies was something Tatl had never thought possible. Those masked monsters in the temples were all his creations, and each was mightier than the last. And yet none of that compared to the falling moon.

Their first night on the Clock Tower was never far from her mind. She remembered Skull Kid's gleeful cackle as he admired his handiwork. He called it his grand finale. "Just try to stop it," he'd said. The ticking of the clock thundered around them, counting down their last minutes. The mask's eyes burned like an endless holocaust.

Tatl pushed the image from her mind and turned around to check on Link. He still sat at the wall, but now he cradled his ocarina and regarded it wistfully. Was he lost in memories? Was he concerned about tomorrow like she was? Or did his thoughts lie elsewhere? People were generally predictable, and the longer you knew them, the truer that was. But with Link, that didn't seem to be the case. To her he remained as mysterious as when they'd first met, and as surreal as that tiny instrument with which he controlled the flow of time.

Link was the strangest boy Tatl had ever met. In fact, just calling him a boy was grossly misleading. From what she had seen, his skills with bow or blade surpassed those of Termina's greatest masters. And the surprises didn't end there. She vividly remembered the day he first used magic in front of her, conjuring fire to light a torch as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Finding humans capable of magic was like finding a needle in twenty haystacks, and even then they were usually lousy at it. Yet although he only knew a few spells, Link's proficiency with magic was that of a budding sorcerer. She still had trouble fathoming how a ten-year-old could be so powerful. (She still wondered about that mark.)

She used to think it pointless. In its seeming futility, Link's determination to stop Skull Kid was enviable. A charade that couldn't last, merely delaying the inevitable. Everything changed when she saw him fight Odolwa, the masked beast of Woodfall Temple. Against an opponent ten times his size, Link stood his ground and fought.

And he won.

That was when she realized that saving the world was never a child's fantasy. It was a real possibility. Link wasn't just some dumb kid with a sword. He was a warrior unlike anything she had ever seen.

As they traversed Termina and lifted the curses, she had grown hopeful. But now the stage was set. With the four Giants awakened, the final hours were theirs to choose. If the Giants couldn't defeat Skull Kid, then the responsibility would fall to Link. She would stand beside him—she owed him so much more than that—but if Skull Kid outmatched even the Great Fairies, what help could she be? At the end of the day, Link was the only one who could make a difference. He was the one risking life and limb, just as he had with the four masked monsters.

If anyone could challenge Skull Kid now, if anyone had even a chance of succeeding, it was Link. But despite every impossible feat he'd accomplished and every unwinnable battle he'd conquered, one glance at the moon tore her confidence to pieces.

Not for the first time, it occurred to her that they might fail, that Majora's Mask might be too powerful, even for Link. But the young hero would never give up on Termina. He would fight to the end, even if his efforts were in vain. She used to feel the same way. She had once believed that there was nothing to lose and everything to gain. She was once confident in the path they chose. Now she hesitated. Was Termina really worth saving at any cost? Was there even an alternative? They couldn't just keep rewinding time and never confront Skull Kid . . . could they?

She surveyed the western skyline once more, wondering how soon the future would begin. She wasn't ready, even if Link was. She didn't want to move forward. She didn't want to leave the safety of this three-day loop. There were too many unknowns, too many possibilities for things to go wrong.

Tatl didn't know to whom she spoke, but there in the Land of the Dead, she prayed for safekeeping. She prayed for her brother and for the citizens of Termina. And most importantly, she prayed for a young boy with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Floating high above the ravine, the golden fairy whispered to the skies, sending her words to some power greater than herself, and hoping with all her soul that someone was listening.

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AN: Thanks for reading! This chapter marks my very first dive into the world of fanfiction. I'm open to any and all thoughts, suggestions, or critiques. Take a pickaxe to it, if you like. Part two should be available in a few days after some final proofreading.


	2. Chapter 2

_The moon eclipsed the reddened sky. Backward and forward, never still, the clock turned, and the shadows changed. Behind every stone stood a friend or ally or stranger, each pleading with desperate eyes. And kneeling before them, he cried out, begging for something they could not lend._

The sun bordered the horizon when Tatl returned, yet Link hadn't moved from when she'd last seen him. He sat holding his ocarina with both hands, eyes cast downward.

"So," she began, "it's getting late. We should probably head back to Clock Town." Their second day was coming to a close. It was hard to believe they had come this far. But it wasn't over yet, and they had to prepare for the coming fight. Link needed to rest up while he had the chance, and as far as she was concerned, it was her job to make sure the kid did just that. He would go out of his way to help people, but he was so forgetful of his own needs. She wondered how he had ever managed to take care of himself on his own.

She reined in her meandering thoughts when she noticed that Link still hadn't moved. Had he even heard her? "Um, Link?" He was just sitting there, staring at his instrument. The few other times she'd seen him hold his ocarina without playing, he'd claimed that it helped him revisit memories. This time she could see it was for a very different reason. She could tell from that look in his eyes—not a distracted air of daydreaming but rather a foreign melancholy.

"After tomorrow," Link said, his voice barely a whisper, "after we stop Skull Kid and return the mask, the Song of Time won't work anymore, will it?"

Tatl faltered for a moment. Why would he even want to rewind time once they were finished? And why ask _her_ of all people? "How should I know? I've told you before, I'm not an expert on magic flutes and time travel."

Link seemed to accept that as an answer, going on to share his own. "I don't think it will."

For the first time, she thought about such a scenario—about the possibility of using the Song of Time on the day of the carnival—and decided that he was probably right. "Well, it makes sense. You said that it's the Goddess of Time helping us. She intervenes whenever you play the song, right? If that's really the case, then once Termina is saved, there's no reason to start over." She still wasn't quite sure where this was headed.

"Then two days from now, everything we did will be permanent." A statement, not a question, although it lingered in the air, as if waiting for confirmation.

The fairy shrugged, bobbing a little in the air. "I guess so. Isn't that the point?" He didn't answer, but his words sparked a realization. The truth was hidden in the omission. It wasn't what they did that worried him.

It was what they didn't do.

"Tatl." When he lifted his head, she could see tears in his eyes. "There's not enough time."

There it was. The questions, his demeanor—she finally understood. The pixie alighted on the boy's knee, no longer feeling very much like flying.

Link and Tatl had plenty of time. They had all the time in the world, in fact. But in the end, Termina only had three days. History was and would forever be immutable. Nothing before yesterday's dawn could be altered, and nothing after could be preserved between cycles. Only the divine realms lay untouched by their temporal manipulations. That had been their ticket to freeing the Giants. When Link played the Song of Time, everything else was reset. Termina's struggles began anew, over and over, persisting until the dawn of the fourth day, their time limit to stop the moon. And seventy-two hours wasn't much time at all. Not when hundreds of people throughout Termina were calling for help. They could only travel so fast. They could only sleep so little.

As the tears began down his cheeks, he wiped at them and tried to hold back. And Tatl found no way to comfort him. All she could do was be the voice of reason.

"Link, you can't save everyone."

He shook his head, as if it were a suggestion rather than fact. "I have to try, don't I?"

"No, you don't," she countered. "These people aren't your responsibility."

"But I'm the only one who can help them. I can't just ignore them."

Reassuring speeches weren't exactly her forte. Still, she had to make him understand, so she kept trying. "You're not ignoring them. You're fighting for them. But even you can't be everywhere at once. We have to pick our battles wisely."

"What about Lulu's children?" he asked with a sniff. "What about the monkey and the Deku princess? They'll die without me. What about the Goron elder? Or Romani and Pamela and—" His voice caught in his throat, and he didn't continue.

The list went on and on. There were so many others, so many citizens of Termina whose lives had once been changed by an unlikely hero, only for his deeds to be undone the very next time around.

"Link, listen to me," she implored. "Let's pretend that it's possible. You run around day and night, fighting monsters and rescuing people. Even if you're successful, what happens then? How will you face Skull Kid when you can barely stay awake?" She tried her hardest to keep the frustration from her voice. She really tried. But didn't he understand? Couldn't he see that his charity might get him killed?

"I don't know. We'll figure something out." His fingers gripped the instrument tighter. "There has to be a way, right?"

She knew what he wanted to hear. He was waiting for her to tell him he was doing the right thing. He was looking for some assurance that he shouldn't give up, because Link _never_ gave up. But this was a battle he couldn't win.

Afraid to answer honestly, Tatl could only ask, "Isn't saving the world enough?"

He stared at her as the words sank in. Then his body began to tremble, and he slowly looked away. With his ocarina in his left hand, he folded his arms and buried his head in his knees, Tatl flying out of the way to give him space. At last, he began to truly cry.

He remained like that for minutes on end, hunched over and pouring out his anguish as the fairy looked on, helpless to console him. He cried and cried, and Tatl could feel her heart breaking. She wished she could take back those words. She wished she could give him hope, just like he'd given her. She just didn't know what to say. She never did.

Stopping the moon, defeating Skull Kid—to Link, that would never be enough. Even now, the Gorons were still freezing to death. The Deku were still withering from thirst. The Zora were still falling sick and being preyed upon. Four curses, but only three days. They had all the time in the world, yet none at all.

His cries continued as the setting sun drained the sky of its colors, but Tatl waited patiently, wondering just how long he had kept this bottled up. It was nearly dark when Link's choked sobs finally began to subside. He wiped at his bloodshot eyes with his wrist and then stubbornly shook his head.

"I can't do it, Tatl."

"Link." She spoke gently, more gently than she had ever addressed him, with more care and understanding than she'd once thought herself capable of. The bitter truth needed to be said. "We can't keep going back."

Another sniffle. Another shake of his head. "Just give me two more weeks. Please."

Tatl dimmed at the request. He was asking for more time. An extra two weeks of dashing around, trying to be everything to everyone. Wearing himself thin, both physically and emotionally. The last thing she wanted to do was permit such a reckless venture. Not when everyone's lives, especially his own, weighed in the balance.

But try as she might, Tatl couldn't bring herself to say no. It wouldn't be fair to him. From the very beginning, their efforts to halt the moon had been a strenuous, thankless endeavor. After all he had done—for Termina, for _her_ —after everything he had endured, Link deserved the opportunity to save the world his way. She couldn't take that decision from him.

And if she had to be honest with herself, she needed a little more time as well.

"Okay, Link," she said. "Two weeks."

They had to move on eventually. They couldn't keep going as they were, avoiding what was to come, hiding within those never-ending days. But for now, she thought, maybe they could. Just for now.

Link rubbed away the last of his tears, and Tatl saw the faintest hint of a smile. "Thank you, Tatl. Thank you."

Nothing else was said. The course was set. At the end of the two weeks, Tatl would try to convince Link to take some time off, to rest and prepare for their fight with Skull Kid. But for the time being, she simply hoped that Link might find his answers in the days ahead. And she prayed that, whatever choices he made, they would both live to remember them.

Link stood and gathered his belongings as Tatl perched on his shoulder. Then, ocarina in hand, he closed his eyes and played the Song of Time, its enigmatic workings spiriting them away, returning them to the Clock Tower and to the dawn of the first day.

 **The End**

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AN: Well there it is! My first ever finished and published fanfiction. What should have been a very brief proofreading of the second chapter turned into hours of hacking and rearranging and outright deleting. I hope it turned out okay in the end. In that same vein, the title was improvised, changed roughly an hour prior to publishing after remaining the same for _months_. So frustrating.

But anyway, thank you all for reading! I really hope you enjoyed this story as much as I did. If you care to, let me know your thoughts. The good, the bad, anything I can improve on for next time. I have quite a few more stories in the works following our precocious Hero of Time. Some of them will actually be happy, too! Take care, and hope to see you next time!


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